The present invention relates generally to air cushion table games and methods for making the same, and more particularly to an air hockey game and a method of making the same.
Air cushion table games are well known. Typically, the table includes an air bed or perforated surface to which air under pressure is supplied from below, creating a multiplicity of closely spaced air jets upon which a game puck floats without touching the table surface. The table is bounded by a sturdy bumper rail, which imparts a solid rebound to the puck. Each player is provided with a disc-shaped bat, which he slides across the table surface and into contact with the puck. An automatic scoring system is optionally provided to receive and record the passage of pucks not blocked by the defending player. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,773,325; 3,871,585; 3,887,187; and 3,927,885 relating to air hockey games; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,927,884, relating to another type of air cushion table game. However, the known air cushion table games have not proved to be entirely satisfactory from the point of view of either the manufacturer or the user.
From the point of view of the manufacturer, the known air cushion type games are produced from a great multitude of individual components which must not only be individually produced, but then arduously assembled to produce the final game. For example, the plenum or air bed is typically formed of at least two major pieces, an upper layer composed of flake board or melamine laminated onto pressed wood backed with phenolic and a lower layer of plywood. The pressed wood is grooved to define separate horizontally extending air channels, each air channel feeding with air only its own selected group of vertical air jets formed in the flake board or melamine. Typically various intermediate spacing stringers or cross braces extend the length and/or width of the air bed to rigidify the plenum thus formed. The plenum is usually surrounded by a metal bumper strip, and the entire assembly is mounted in a rigidifying wooden frame. Skilled labor or sophisticated equipment is required to assemble the parts of the plenum in such a manner as to insure that the upper and lower layers are secured together without air leaks which would undesirably dissipate the air pressure built up in the plenum during play of the game. Clearly, labor and material costs could be reduced in the manufacturing process if the plenum and bumper strips were formed in a single operation to provide a one-piece integral construction of sufficient rigidity and internal structure that air channels, spacing stringer, cross braces, and a rigidifying frame were not required.
From the point of view of the user, the multicomponent nature of the game, and in particular the plenum thereof, can lead to a variety of problems under the shocks and impacts occurring during typical play of the game and the even more severe ones which may occur during handling of the game, e.g., when it is dropped, etc. For example, air leaks may occur at the interface of the top and bottom layers of the plenum so that the puck is not properly supported on the playing surface by the weakened air cushion or the fan providing the air cushion must work harder to produce the desired air cushion, thus leading to possible overheating of the fan motor. The desired original orientation of the bumper strips relative to the playing surface may vary over time, thereby leading to unexpected rebounds, as the means securing the bumper strips and the plenum together respond to normal and abnormal usage of the game. Thus, from the point of view of the user, a game in which the plenum was of integral one-piece construction, preferably with the bumper strips, would lead to a sturdier and more reliable game.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air cushion table game in which the plenum is of a unitary one-piece integral construction.
Another object is to provide such a game in which the air bed, including both the plenum and the bumper strips, is of unitary one-piece integral construction.
A further object is to provide such a game which does not require separate rigidifying elements.
A final object is to provide a simple, rapid and economical method of making such a game.